NORTH COUNTY  The Fallbrook man who died last week after his motorcycle slid under a tractor-trailer truck near Rainbow was identified as John David Payn, 20, authorities said Saturday. Payn was riding his Honda Shadow motorcycle north on Interstate 15, just south of Rainbow Valley Road, about 4:45 p.m. Feb. 19 when traffic in front of him suddenly stopped, Officer Jim Bettencourt of the California Highway Patrol said. Payn's motorcycle struck an SUV in ...

EL CAJON  An El Cajon boy who died Friday after being struck by a car was identified as 7-year-old Angel Cruz, authorities said Saturday. Angel was crossing the street at Peach Avenue near Mollison Avenue about 3:45 p.m. Thursday when a car struck him, according to the Medical Examiner's Office. He died early Friday morning at Rady Children's Hospital. El Cajon police said Angel stepped into the road from behind a parked car. The ...

NORTH COUNTY  North County law enforcement officers arrested 11 people Friday during an operation to check up on suspected gang members in Vista, a sheriff's lieutenant said. Sheriff's deputies, probation officers, and officers with Carlsbad and Oceanside police departments set out at 1 p.m. to check up on suspected gang members who were recently released from jail, said sheriff's Lt. Scott Black. Authorities attempted to check up on 28 suspected gang members who they ...

CITY HEIGHTS  Two males were stabbed early Saturday morning during a brawl on Orange Avenue in City Heights, police said. San Diego police responded at 1:28 a.m. to a report of a fight at Orange Avenue and 47th Street, said Officer Robert Heims. At least a half-dozen males were involved. Police said one of the victims was stabbed in the chest. The other was stabbed in the back. Both were taken to the hospital ...

SPRING VALLEY  Deputies arrested two men accused of trying to extort money from a woman who lost her wallet Friday in Spring Valley, a sheriff’s official said. The 20-year-old woman reported that an unauthorized transaction was made on her debit card after she lost the wallet at an unknown location, sheriff’s Lt. James Bolwerk said. She received a text message from a man who said he had the wallet, and that he would return ...

San Diego  A woman was critically injured Friday night when she ran across an intersection against a red light in the Midway District, San Diego police said. The 45-year-old woman was running north on Lytton Street crossing Rosecrans Street in a crosswalk shortly after 9 p.m, police Officer Robert Heims said. She was struck by a sedan whose driver, a 26-year-old man, was headed west on Rosecrans, the officer said. She was transported to ...

SAN DIEGO COUNTY  People who want to contest a traffic ticket or request a reduction in fines will now have to make an appointment before showing up to court in Kearny Mesa. Starting Monday, the traffic court building at 8950 Clairemont Mesa Boulevard will require all courtroom appearances to be scheduled in advance, according to court officials. Walk-ins are still allowed at traffic court facilities in Vista, El Cajon and Chula Vista. Superior Court ...

San Diego  A man accused of taking sexually explicit videos of three girls who attended a San Diego daycare was sentenced Friday to 40 years in prison. William Michael Howard, 24, pleaded guilty in federal court in September to three counts of sexual exploitation of a minor. The victims — all girls, ages 3, 5 and 7 — went to a daycare operated by the family of Howard's girlfriend. Howard admitted recording each girl’s ...

San Diego  About 75 protesters gathered outside the San Diego Superior courthouse Friday to criticize the use of a controversial state gang conspiracy law they say unfairly targets young minority men. The law is being used for the first time here and has drawn national attention. To be prosecuted under the law, the person must be an active gang member, know about the criminal activities of the gang and benefit from or further those ...

PACIFIC BEACH  A block along Ingraham Street in Pacific Beach reopened Friday morning after crews worked overnight to repair a water main break. Water started gushing out of the pavement between Diamond and Chalcedony streets about 10 p.m. Thursday, said Kurt Kidman, San Diego water department spokesman. The flood caused no reported damage at homes along the street and crews got the water shut off in about an hour, Kidman said. Service was shut ...

EL CAJON  A 7-year-old boy died early Friday of injuries he suffered when he was struck by a car while crossing a street in El Cajon Thursday, authorities said. The child's name is being withheld until extended family members are notified, a Medical Examiner's investigator said. Crisis counselors were sent to his school early Friday to help students and staff distressed by his passing, Cajon Valley School District Superintendent David Miyashiro said at a ...

MISSION VALLEY  A motorcyclist's leg was severed when he crashed on transition lanes from Interstate 8 to Interstate 805 in Mission Valley Thursday night, the California Highway Patrol said. The accident occurred about 9:40 p.m. as he drove from eastbound I-8 to southbound I-805, the CHP said. Authorities said the crash may have involved a non-contact hit-and-run, suggesting the motorcyclist swerved to avoid another vehicle, which did not stop. Paramedics took the injured rider ...

POWAY  The Poway Unified School District is seeking input from a wide range of community members as officials craft the district’s second Local Control and Accountability Plan. School districts in California last year were tasked with creating and implementing a Local Control and Accountability Plan, known as an LCAP, as a requirement of the state’s new Local Control Funding Formula for public education. The new funding formula is intended to be more flexible and ...

ESCONDIDO  A man was seriously injured Thursday when his motorcycle was struck by an SUV, Escondido police said. The collision involving a Chevrolet Suburban occurred about 3:45 p.m. at the intersection of Second Avenue and Kalmia Street A 36-year-old Escondido woman was driving the SUV north on Kalmia. She had stopped at a stop sign, but then drove into the intersection into the motorcyclist’s path, police Lt. Justin Murphy said. The rider, a 46-year-old ...

A crowd of roughly 75 vocal teachers, students and parents - some carrying placards -- came out Thursday to support a popular middle school principal in the Escondido Union School District who has been on a leave of absence since early December, demanding that the board of trustees return him to his position. Mission Middle School Principal Jon Centofranchi has been absent from the school since early December, without explanation. The five-member board, when it ...

LOS ANGELES  Charles “Chase” Merritt, accused of killing the McStay family of Fallbrook, said in a jail interview with ABC7 Los Angeles that he expects to be acquitted in the case, the television station reported. Rob McMillan, the station’s Inland Empire bureau chief, said in a story aired on ABC7 Thursday night that he talked to Merritt for nearly 90 minutes at West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga. It was Merritt’s first jail ...

An activist attorney who has blocked City Hall projects and financing mechanisms — all the while using secret clients — went to court on Thursday trying to keep a judge from revealing their identities. Attorney Cory Briggs sues on behalf of San Diegans for Open Government, and last year convinced a judge to protect the identities of the group’s members for fear of reprisals. Now, City Attorney Jan Goldsmith wants Judge Joel Wohlfeil to lift ...